Spot on. This dance is on every channel every year with one team or another, and this is our turn. Really. it's a great problem to have. We have one of the best to ever play the position, and it is time for the billionaires and the multi millionaire to start their two step, both sides decrying the unfairness of it all, and then one day soon, they will sign a contract making everybody happy, and they will smile for the cameras, pose for their gratuitous snapshots of the moment, and declare their mutual love and respect and how they "knew they'd get it done" and all will be well in NOLA land again.
This is just how the posturing happens, and it has been a dog-eared off season as it was without tuning in to this ballet of BS and false worries over what will never happen.
Drew isn't going anywhere. Ever. He is the Prince of Louisiana, and we will not let him leave ever. Ever.
OK?
So everybody chill.

Parcells couldn't do it because Dave Meggett and Vinnie Testaverde weren't available in a "hover-round" free league. Bill was an old man doing 40 in the fast lane by the end of his storied career. Not a knock on Bill, but a chiming in of the reality of this game, which is not the game he fought to top of in the kind of distant past.
Poor Bill was too old school to survive in the new league. You can tell he didn't like young guns stepping back and pulling the trigger because with the exception of (and maybe even affirmed by) Quincy Carter, he only used a cagey old veteran under center to manage his style of game. Smashmouth, plodding, short gain, football, the game of inches and ball control.
Drew and company would not work well under a man who despised kickers, high scores, and gunslinger quarterbacks who like to air it out. When you look at his body of work, you see ball control, and players playing within tightly knit parameters who play conservative and consistently.
His contribution to the modern game, IMHO, is the 3rd down back. Yanking your feature back for a high percentage guy for the flat route or check down on short yardage situations. 3rd and 8 and above was a draw play, bet on it.
Bill gave us some great years to be sure, but he came along and left 3 teams in shambles because he was just too burned out to really put his all into anything after his Dallas days.
The game evolves and adapts and this is a QB league now, and Bill's nature couldn't have handled a Drew Brees stud who says "to heck with percentages, let's go wide open."
Our staff is tight-knit, capable and well versed in their team, their roles, and i for one am glad the Saints stayed in house to keep the system running smooth with our team leaders and coaching staff of peers who know how to use our players to their maximum effect, as games and situations allow.
I am a proud Saints fan, this hailstorm of negative BS by our esteemed Dictator in Chief and his sycophantic minions will not effect us nearly as bad as they may hope.
NEw Orleans is special. Louisiana is a state full of people who know how to make the most out the least, and we make it better than anybody else, and our team, staff, players and fans alike, are reflections of us. We have everything it takes to do something truly special this year, and I, for one...can't WAIT to get started.
WHO DAT 4 EVAH!!!!!

Gerry V. I've been here jousting with others for a short time, and my following your posts on the saga of one thankfully departed QB has been most notably where we have agreed the most. Your courage under fire, and in the face of factions and their monosyllabic "replies", earned my respect.
Unlike most journalistic types who write the think piece on touchy subject matter. you don't fire back negatively at rebutts, whether well thought out or the formerly mentioned vitriol. I envy you that, and laud your temperament when faced with the less-than-savory replies you choose to reply to.
I am not going to post some soliloquy and manifesto championing my command of the typed word, and lack of emotional restraint, because I DO post a load of entertaining, if less than professional, stuff, they are off the cuff in style, and sometimes more than inappropriate.
I just have to say, I love work babe...and whatever you do, you ARE entertaining, and rooted in a deep love for our state, our teams and our culture. Kudos to you for reaching out like this as well sir, it is nice to know that some of the people we admire and even envy a bit, can show the respect of the fanbase reading by throwing the digital bone. Well done in everything mister V.
BB

He needs a Super Pac... Hang in there coach...GODell has started the end of his credibility and unprecedented power with this one. Stay hungry and buy playoff tickets...Dome team advantage all the way to the Super Beauxl!!! WD4Evah

Williams said to try to hurt somebody, and yet, not one Saint attempted a single dirty hit. Not one. And Williams was dismissed just about as soon as the game was over to boot. In this ridiculous witch hunt trying to paint the organization on the whole as a bunch of cheap-shot artists, nobody ever states the obvious truth. Nobody tried to hurt anybody any more than Mike Tyson actually tried to eat anybody'sB children. I played football from 3rd through 10th grade, and our coaches told us "take their heads off" and "knock a lung loose" and it never ever meant to actually go and remove a head from a body. This had gotten just preposterous, and it reeks of sanctimonious BS from top to bottom. Not one player made good on hurting anybody outside of good, clean, hard and legal hits. You folks trying to paint this as some outrageous and never-before-seen style of coaching are either clueless as to locker room bravado, lying, or just plain dogpiling on the Saints for having a coach who went too far in his methodologies of motivation. The truth will come out, but these draconian penalties, with more to come, attempting to cripple an organization will do nothing to change the facts, and only drive incentive programs further from view. In the legal field, the saying is, "No body, no crime". There are no bodies lining hospital corridors, and no dirty play to substantiate this macarthyistic pile of garbage that is subbing for news. Bunch of damned hypocrites, every single last one of you.

Yeah, like when God put him that bar fight..his words, not mine, and how did that work out for him there Benny Hinn? Good grief, you just drool that psalmy crap all over the place and have nothing of a football mind. Please stop. i would rather Hatter apologists with half a brain than this drivel.

Stay on it Gerry. Why Les Miles put number 9's feelings above the team and the whole of the Tiger Nation needs to be explored. This is unacceptable. At this level, you don't give everybody "participant"ribbons and say second place is pretty darned good. No way. This is football. Les' streak of luck ran out, as it was bound to do, and he allowed the team to be embarrassed on national TV after falsely assuring us all earlier this year that no one player was above the team, and then threw the team under the wheels for the sake not hurting number 9's feelings, even as number 9 displayed no leadership, no team mentality, and a failure to recognize his many shortcomings and a desire to work on them. Les is a great recruiter, but his coaching shortcomings were fully exposed by Saban. Where there is smoke, there is fire. Les deserves to be challenged for his actions. he put selfish player's feelings and sense of entitlement above the entire Tiger Nation, and we deserve and demand answers. Saying it would be unfair to bench Jefferson for his abysmal play ever since being soon-fed the starting job again, and all the while never missing an opportunity to downplay every other contribution by the rest of the team shows a lack of clarity, a lack of grasp on talent evaluation, and failure to put the team above any one man. Be it that stubborn coach hell-bent on making a silk purse from a sow's ear, or that player who turns in two of the worst games in SEC history, (SEC championship and BCS) and claims that the team failed, while he executed extremely well.

As a white guy who is not racist who sees racists everywhere, can you not agree with THIS Native American that seeing so many people called racists for simply criticizing the awful play of our QB who happened to be black, is a bit ridiculous? I have been called everything here, and usually by a black guy, assuming i am a white guy who just has nothing to add but i am a racist, and JJ was our best QB. Sickening.

i love these crystal ball washers on here who insist tyhat they have a sight into that parallel universe where JJ was as good of an effort as anybody could have done. NEWSFLASH NOSTRADUMBASS...9 turne din the worst QB job in the history of championship football. THE worst. As in, we may never see as bad a game played by a QB ever again in our lifetimes. To say that Lee would have done as bad is sheer idiocy. Utter disrespect for everything that kid showed us he could do, and fierce and stupid loyalty to 9 and Les Gump that got us unto this mess.

What are you talking about? What in the world does RP have to do with how bad JJ was? Oh...you are a racist, and so think everybody who disagrees with you is a racist. And of course, being the mental giant you, you obviously think that anybody who criticizes JJ is a racist as well? Golly. Never seen that one before. You have no credibility, but i am sure you hear that all the time. Damned racist asshat.

Since you didn't watch the games and just look at empty stats, allow yourself to look up how many games Lee, running backs, defense and special teams actually scored the points, came through with clutch plays, and at times sheer luck, bailed 9's stats out of the hole that he scrambled into. LSU won more games DESPITE his play than because of. But, as i said...i watch the games. 9's departure is the best thing that any QB has ever done for LSU, so in that way...sure...he rocks. What's your prediction on what round and who will draft him, and how he will do in the NFL. I'm dying to hear your hard-hitting analysis there Greek.

You are stupid, but consistent. Is racist your only word when you start losing every single fight you start ? Truly a sad little man you are. But, as i said. Consistent. And entertaining. Like a train wreck. Can't stop looking even though I know that nothing you say will be productive, sensible, or have a smidge of merit. Seems to me you have a huge racist streak of your own, because you just duck behind that one every. single. time. Entertain me more ID10T. You complete us.

Thank you again Gerry. Number 9 once again finds different ways to find everybody but number 9 at fault for number 9's actions. Every single play has a hot read...if the QB is a capable QB that can read a D set and make the adjustments and MAKE that call. Hoiw many times did he call an audible in the BCS? At least a dozen. Every time he just called his own number They simplified and simplified and simplified trying, and in the end succeeding, in bringing the entire system down to his level of ability and/or capabilities. Number 9 was never ranked higher than about 88th in the nation because HE couldn't run an offense that is tailored toward an NFL style of play. In the end, Saban, like you, and myself and hundreds and thousands of others knew it. All Alabama had to do was stack the box and run right at number 9. He can't throw, fake, or think on his feet, and the rest is history. unlike you and i, though, Saban did not have to fear being called a racist for saying what was obvious.That number 9 is predictable and can't read a defense, and never knew where his receivers were because he was always just looking for a hole to run through. I have been in the stands several games and watched Terrance Tolliver run uncovered down the field, 9's helmet swing his way dutifully and then elsewhere, then the tuck and run showing that 9 NEVER actually LOOKED, he just pretended to because that is all he knew to do, I knew we were screwed if it ever came down to needing 9 to win a game for us. Being called a fair weather fan, after 30 years of living and breathing LSU football, (I'm 43), and being called a racist, (I am of Caddo Indian descent) by people the last 3 years has been infuriating. The CLM nuthuggers screaming us down, bullying us, and being vocal and opinionated people who obviously do not know much about football that is not told to them by the announcers, so they lash out at me as if my lack of belief brought tinkerbell closer to death, and so here we are. Noshing on what could have been if we had a coach that would just admit that his choice at QB was not going to cut it, and his choice of benching anybody who crossed this line of thinking was doomed to sit and watch what we all knew was coming and watching in silence. CLM, hell-bent on proving us wrong, and he and his apologists right, or the whole ship was going down and he would blame the team, the line, the fans booing...but never number 9. Never his golden child. This is the worst feeling in the world isn't it Gerry? Being right all along.

Yup. Very loyal to his players not named Jarrett Lee. He stuck up for number 9 time after time at the cost of the rest of the team and everybody who didn't have on those rose-colored glasses saw it coming...You can cherry pick the good things all you want, but as a body of work, with what he has done with the talent he has had, he is a sub-par Coach. Helluva recruiter...until THIS year. Players and pundits alike, across the nation have spoken. they are steering away from Lesterville in droves, because nobody wants a coach who is happy with second place. Second place is the first loser. /.02

And that is good enough for you? Blowing the big games every year to coddle his choice of QB is ok with you? Losing the championship like we did was ok...because he has a great record? OK...sure thing there chief. Celebrate mediocrity all you want, but it won't wash with most folks.